October 17, 2018

Senator Warren’s DNA Test Results

“Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, ridiculed by U.S. President Donald Trump as ‘Pocahontas’ for claiming Native American heritage, hit back on Monday with DNA evidence she said supported her assertion, a possible preview of a bare-knuckles presidential campaign in 2020.”

Reuters

Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. issued a statement in response, stating, “A DNA test is useless to determine tribal citizenship. Current DNA tests do not even distinguish whether a person’s ancestors were indigenous to North or South America. Sovereign tribal nations set their own legal requirements for citizenship, and while DNA tests can be used to determine lineage, such as paternity to an individual, it is not evidence for tribal affiliation...

"Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong. It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven. Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage."

From the Left

The left is critical of using DNA tests to claim Native American heritage.

From the Right

The right thinks Warren’s claims are disingenuous at best, and lies at worst. While they argue that race should not be a determining factor in selecting a job applicant or elective candidate, they also point out that at the end of the day, this is all about Trump.

“Ms. Warren’s elaborate attempt to neutralize Mr. Trump’s attacks represented the surest sign yet that she intends to run for president in 2020... Ms. Warren’s unusual step illustrated her willingness to spar with Mr. Trump on his own terms. But in the eyes of the senator and her advisers, they had little choice: the news media would have kept questioning her about her heritage as long as the president persisted in his mockery, so best to answer his challenge, however undignified it might seem."

One Native American journalist asks, “Elizabeth Warren, where the hell have you been?... Why didn't she say anything about the literal attacks on human rights and treaty violations during our fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota in 2016?... Why, up until only earlier this year, hasn't Warren said anything about police brutality in Indian country?... Why, up until only earlier this year, hasn't she said anything about sexual abuse in Indian country?...

Some note that “Warren isn’t applying for tribal membership: She is trying to verify a family story and put an end to a murky and difficult situation that some see as at odds with her reputation for moral clarity...

A former Obama strategist asks, “Argue the substance all you want, but why 22 days before a crucial election where we MUST win house and senate to save America, why did [Senator Warren] have to do her announcement now? Why can’t Dems ever stay focused?"

Twitter

From the Right

The right thinks Warren’s claims are disingenuous at best, and lies at worst. While they argue that race should not be a determining factor in selecting a job applicant or elective candidate, they also point out that at the end of the day, this is all about Trump.

“This isn’t hard. Elizabeth Warren misled her employers. She misled her students. She misled the public. And her response is positively Trumpian. No retreat. No surrender. But if she’s going to act like Trump, then the least the media could do is treat her like it treats Trump. Is that too much to ask?”

“The entire Democratic party is in a fierce competition not only to be the best practitioner of Avenatti-ism — unapologetic pugnaciousness towards Trump and the GOP — but also to be anointed the person Trump hates the most... And that was the smart part about Warren’s reveal. She made it about her and Trump, and she got Trump to denounce her and the entire rightwing media-industrial complex to attack her for an entire news cycle."

National Review

“Thus we are reminded of one of Trump’s greatest strengths: his ability to unhinge his opponents. Of course, his foes think he’s unhinged, but then, it seems, in an anti-Trump tantrum, they go out and do things they shouldn’t do, thereby reminding everyone that unhinged is a relative concept. This sort of perverse escalation hasn’t worked out well for Trump’s opponents in the past, nor is it working out today...